Texans Speak Out on How They’ve Been Failed

A governmental failure from top to bottom

Morgan Jerkins
ZORA

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Road closure in Fort Worth, Texas, after the winter storm caused a pipe to break.
Fort Worth Texas on February 18, 2021. Photo: Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

First, it began with a deadly 135-car pileup in Fort Worth, Texas, and then everything quickly spiraled out of control. Last week, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and several other states suffered from blackouts. Half a million people in the country did not have electricity, with Texas taking the lead in its cases, and in that same state, 14 million citizens have boiling water notices. Not only has climate change reared its ugly head again, but also the costs of the GOP backing a privatized power grid. An 11-year-old boy died after his mobile home lost power. Another almost ran out of oxygen. One froze to death in his bed.

We at ZORA are listening, watching, and donating to Texans in need, and we have been fortunate to find those who had the energy and strength to give us eyewitness accounts of all that is going on. Pay attention to this space as we will be updating with dispatches as more come in.

Von, Austin

To be honest it has been miserable and more traumatic than March 2020 when there was no food. We are dealing with no heat, water, or electricity. It’s cold and wet. I needed to leave my place because I ran out of wood to burn. It was not safe to burn just anything to stay warm. The first few days it was unsafe to…

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Morgan Jerkins
ZORA
Writer for

Morgan Jerkins is the Senior Editor at ZORA and a New York Times bestselling author. Her debut novel, “Caul Baby,” will be published by Harper in April 2021.